once upon a time i dated this dude who lived in philly

and he lived across the street from this place called

which specialized in this stuff called water ice

water what?

water ice

{pronounced, "wuhter ice"}

it's a halfway point between a slushy and your average scoop of italian ice.

and it's addictive

so, too, is their frozen custard

whose sole purpose in life is to embellish the water ice,

creating what rita's calls a

gelati

{unfortunate name, i know, but beggars can't be choosers-especially in this tasty case}

anyways,

you know what they say about breakups:

the hardest part of breaking up is getting back your food

right,

ok,

i know i did not literally leave a cup of water ice at old boyfriend's apartment.

but since rita's didn't exist on the island back then, i did have to bid farewell to weekly gelatis

and i just wanted to reference that sweet 2gether song {r.i.p. q.t. mcknight}

so imagine my excitement when manhattan's first rita's opened up right in my neighborhood!!!

weeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! happy dance.

the best days are the days when they have pistachio water ice.

the second best days are when they have birthday cake water ice.

and the third best days are when they have strawby water ice {and i get chocolate frozen custard plopped on top!}

the rest of the days are pretty much the best too.

rita's just makes me so jolly.

i usually walk really really fast on the way there,

and then i have nice little stroll back to my apartment...

savoring the artificial flavor,

taking care to get the perfect ratio of custard and ice in each bite,

and then drinking the part that has become too melty to scoop up at the end.

who needs those bougey ice cream sandwiches anyways??

rita's, i love you.

xoxo

yeh

rita's in manhattan is on broadway and 92nd!